Prepare To Be Judged!

He is the Law.
He is Judge, Jury and Executioner.
He is based on a comic book.
He was a 1995 flop movie.
He is getting a reboot.
He is Judge Dredd.

That’s right folks – Judge Dredd will be returning to the big screen following a 14 years absence. The Mega City judge will be produced by DNA films, the guys behind 28 Days Later.

In case you don’t know, Judge Dredd is a British comic book character published in 2000 AD. Created by John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra in 1977 the character is a futuristic police officer of sorts called a “Judge” because they are Judge, Jury and Executioner all rolled into one. Dredd’s the baddest ass in Mega City, think Dirty Harry and RoboCop rolled into one. In fact RoboCop borrowed liberally from the Dredd character (come to think of it Dredd borrowed liberally from Dirty Harry).

The 1995 Sylvester Stallone film was pretty much a disaster. It ditched everything that made Dredd cool – he never takes off his helmet in the comics; he was given a comic sidekick; a love interest and well… frankly it just didn’t work. The film was directed by a young British director named Danny Cannon, who has since gone on to have success with CSI.

I can only imagine that the new film will be truer to the comics.

A statement on the 2000 AD comics message board said the following:

“Rebellion and 2000 AD are proud to announce that ‘Judge Dredd’ is coming to a cinema near you soon! Together with DNA Films, the movie production company behind such great sci-fi movies such as ‘Sunshine’ and ’28 Weeks Later,’ ‘Judge Dredd’ will go into production in 2009.
Jason Kingsley, CEO and Creative Director said, ‘We can’t give away too many details at this point, but we’re looking forward to working with DNA Films to bring ‘Judge Dredd’ back to the big screen.’
We’ll keep you up to date with breaking news as it happens!”

It’s not the first mention of a Dredd reboot – about five years ago word spread that two films would be shot back to back on a low(ish) budget. I have no idea what happend to that plan.

Now to the important bit. Who would you cast as Judge Dredd?

I’ve always thought that Ed Harris would kick serious ass in the role, but I’m sure that you guys have other ideas. I’m interested to know what they are.

20 Comments

Post a Comment

Want to change your avatar?Go to Gravatar.com and upload your own (we'll wait)!

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Rules: No profanity or personal attacks. Use a valid email address or risk being banned from commenting.

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail

If your comment doesn't show up immediately, it may have been flagged for moderation. Please try refreshing the page first, then drop us a note and we'll retrieve it.

Metallicat79 6 years ago

I must have been the only who saw and enjoyed Judge Dredd.
However if we are talking reboot, if we are going for a younger version, Jonathan Rys Meyers or Billy Crudup or Even Colin Ferrell if he can muster up a good american accent.
If you are looking for someone older Josh Brolin, or I may get flack for this one, But Tom Cruise,Ralph Fiennes or Eric Bana would work as well.

Judge Dredd always deserved another chance on the big screen, he is such a great character. If I had to choose anyone to be Dredd…hmm…I honestly don’t know, I’d prefer to see an unknown get cast actually.

I can’t wait to see how this turns out.

(Note to filmmakers: if Dredd takes off his iconic helmet at any stage during this movie, I will not be a happy pappy)

If he is to keep his helmet on, then I agree with SunNightRaider that it should be an unknown. But if he does take his helmet off (calm down SunNight ), then I would say Matt Damon, Tom Cruise, or Brad Pitt would be good. Alao, since this is from a British company, why not have a Brit: Daniel Craig.

As a long time Dredd fan,I have held out hope for a Guy Ritchie/ Vinnie Jones re-boot. Guaranteed- those two have read and loved the comic. Nonetheless, as long as it is in British hands, it should get its props. We had no business translating Dredd when we did, but I give Sly credit for trying to bring him to the masses. I enjoyed the first attempt, and look forward to the next.

He’s not exactly an unknown, but my take is that Vinnie Jones would be a natural. Cruise? Pitt? Please, guys, lets leave the wee pretty boys to do what they do best…
Soak up money while delivering a good performance once in a while at best.

@JessSayin
Well, Stallone isn’t that big. Sure, he had muscle and was cut, but the man is about 5 feet tall. I compare him to Bruce Lee, who was also cut but thin (and no one would have called him short ).

@Jon
Alas, I finally found Solace!! Hahaha.
on a side note, though, I have reading more and more on deadpool, no comics yet, i cant remember what it was you told me to do to read digital copies of the comincs. But I am playing as him in Marvel Alliance for Xbox. Pretty Sweet, i like him more than Iron Man in the game.

Thats awesome. I always have deadpool on my team. I have the dual pistols all the way leveled up and it is awesome.

Ok, you need CDisplay to view digital comics. Do you know how to download them? If you don’t you may need to just email me and I’ll tell you. Not here my friend, not here! Just go over to the site I write for and you’ll find my email. Anything else you need just let me know.

@John: Eh, Hugo Weaving remained hidden in “V for Vendetta”, so it’s no problem if a renowned actor doesn’t show face. I think it’s much more cool if a big name actor is willing to stay under cover through out a movie (just think of Maguire in Spiderman, and Downey Jr. in Iron Man… always having to eventually show their faces while on duty). So in other words, get the proper man for the job, unknown or known.

Also, regarding the original film adaptation, as long as you weren’t familiar with the source material (as I was), then it was pretty good showing. Being a kid would have helped as well :p.

It simultaneously blew, sucked and bit. Except for Chris Halls’ work on Mean Machine and the ABC robot. The Fifth Element did Mega-City One better than the Dredd movie: the architecture, the vehicles, the mad clothing etc.

Ed Harris and Josh Brolin are good suggestions for Dredd. Both actors can give off the right balance of quiet authority, stoicism and humanity. I know everyone suggests him for everything, but how about Big Ron Perlman? He’s got the voice, the presence, and most importantly the CHIN, people, the CHIN!

And while we’re on the subject of gravelly voices, what about Michael Wincott?